Kit's day in the woods, part 3

Our next stop was the river; Kit had heard a lot about it from the other dolls as well.
Kit wandered down the path slowly, taking in all of the lovely scenery around us. "It's beautiful here!! Is is much farther to the river?" Kit asked.
"No, we're just about there." I told her.
"Really?" she squealed, and ran ahead.
I was rather puzzled. Normally by about this time, we would have heard the river rushing and splashing, but today all I could hear was Kit and birds.
Kit's footsteps stopped abruptly. I ran to catch up with her, wondering what had surprised her.



I found her standing by the riverbed, looking rather surprised. Only a small stream remained of the once large river.
"Oh the river's gone." I said, not knowing what else to say.
"Will it come back??" she asked rather anxiously after a moment.
"I suppose so, I guess this must be the wrong time of year or something, now that I think of it, the last time I came here was very late summer, not late spring."
"Oh..." said Kit.
"Let's go further up stream, maybe we can find some water there." I reassured her.
She instantly brightened.
"Oh, wait," I told her as I fished a pair of rain boots and an over-shirt out of my pocket. "You might want to wear these. The area gets distinctly swampier the farther you go upstream."
Kit, thrilled to oblige, quickly donned the added clothing. I slipped her old sandals into my pocket.


Kit was overjoyed at the sight of the river. "May I jump in?" she asked excitedly.
"I should say not!" I exclaimed. "Why that water is filthy! You'd absolutely ruin your clothes. You may wade however."
Kit was a little disappointed about not being allowed to swim, but quickly cheered up at the prospect of wading through the river.